http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/alexadactyl/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from alexadactyl en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:08:24 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:08:24 +0000 18 April Almost dying carrying my bag across the border I got in the bus on the other side and promptly went back to sleep trying to block out the hairpins and horrible sick feeling. We arrived at some point after dark in Pak Xan where I collapsed into bed. 19 April I woke up feeling worse than the day before. Good thing we only had a 4hour bus ride We arrived in the morning in Vientiane http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-397265.html 13 April Leaving the tailors and silversmiths behind we headed off to the town of Hue. Along the way we drove through beautiful scenery passing Lang Co beach and making a top at the top of the Hai Van Pass a former American outpost. Of course any time a pass is involved there are a load of hairpin curves and a load of hairpin curves make me a bit ill. So instead of being able to stare in a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-397262.html 06 AprilIn Chau Doc... The evening after the exhausting day in transit was pleasant. We hired a boat out on the river which brought us up close to scores of houseboats and fishing boats and provided beautiful views of the rickety stilt houses along the river bank. We made a stop at one of the floating villages where houses are not boats but stationary. Inside they look like typical houses wit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-397047.html 31 MarchWe left Bangkok early in the morning in a minibus headed for the Cambodian border. Despite the lengthy journey things were kept interesting inside the bus with an incident involving pickled mango read sticky sugary juice was all over the bus and vain attempts at cleaning it with wet wipes and trying to siphon the juice from the pickled mango bag into a yogurt container were disasters http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-396432.html 30 MarchArrived at some horribly early hour to the Bangkok airport. I couldn't actually say what time it was since I slept through the local time announcements on the plane. After getting a fancy new stamp in my passport and picking up my very chubby backpack I hopped in a bright pink taxi headed for the city center. Bangkok's taxis are like Skittles one company has bright pink taxis anothe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-396167.html At least I think I'm clever...28 MarchArrival in Calangute in Goa a teeny beachy resorty state on the Arabian Sea. We had a beautiful dinner on the beach followed by cocktails with my Bumchum at the hotel.29 MarchLast day in India After breakfast I headed out with Lucy and Laura to shop our cares away. I bought a nice bracelet and two fake silver rings. In two weeks time the bracelet will http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/blog-395574.html 24 MarchYes I still love Indian trains. We arrived early to Bangalore India's Silicon Valley where we promptly boarded a bus to Mysore which is not an eyesore. After a great lunch we hopped in a tuktuk to the stateowned silk factory. If you ever thought a tuktuk seat with room for three people only holds three people you would be wrong. They hold seven. After the disappointing discov http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-395572.html 19 MarchAmbassador taxis took us from the train station to our beautiful little hotel only a few minutes walk away from the beach in Varkala. The beach is only a huge flight of stairs down a massive cliff. It's stunning wonderful with warm waters and the go ahead to wear swimsuits Unfortunately I didn't spend much time there. The fever from my intense mosquito bite allergic reaction skin d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-395570.html 15 MarchAn early morning taxi ride from the heart of Delhi dropped me at the Delhi airport. Flying in India is an experience in itself. After showing your ticket at the door a nice security guard lets you in far enough that you can put your checked bags through a scanner where they're tagged and have a plastic band put around them think heavy duty cardboard box with the annoying thin plastic b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/blog-395563.html 14 MarchWe started the day with a rooftop breakfast watching eagles fly around over Delhi. From the hotel we walked a couple short blocks to the metro station. The Delhi metro is fantastically cheap and super modern. However if you go out the wrong exit of the station you could end up walking heaps further than you'd planned. Not that that would ever happen to me...After about a 25 minute wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-395551.html 06 MarchWe started the day with a sunrise cycle rickshaw to the Indian border. Because of the road blockades we'd weaved in and out of hundreds of parked cargo trucks the night before and now all of these trucks seemed to be lined up at the border to get to their Nepali destinations via India. Our poor cycle rickshaws were too bulky and unable to maneuver between the trucks so we walked the la http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-383270.html 2627 FebruaryAfter one heckuvan afterparty for the scuba course I got up early posted another pile of clothessnorkelbooksetc. home then hopped a flight to Sydney. And then one to Brisbane. And then to Bangkok. And arrived in Bangkok at 5 a.m. Bangkok is fully prepared for these arrivals and has all the duty free shops open and all the cafes for your convenience. They also have convenien http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/blog-383016.html After leaving Canberra behind I headed north to Queensland to take in the Great Barrier Reef the best way possible diving I took a 5day open water course and am now certified for life to 30m depth. We spent a thrilling two days in the classroom watching videos and taking quizzes with intermittent pool sessions learning all those useful skills for the water. We had 3 lovely days on the diveb http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-383005.html Ben kept a blog of his visit 12.23.0812.24.08My trip to Australia literally got off to a scorching start as I woke up to leave from East Lansing. I had been working in lab the previous day and had managed to give myself a sunburn from standing over a UV light while slicing up gel bands from an experiment. My goggled face in the mirror told me everything I needed to know about why it felt so wa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-361004.html 13 November I flew from Auckland to Sydney on a charming Qantas flight with great food a nice seatmate...and the XFiles movie A weird choice for a flight where you can't pick the film you watch. Gosia met me at the airport and we taxied to her place to get a good night's sleep.14 November We were absolute tourists today. Started out with a walk to University of New South Wales to turn i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/blog-346488.html I went for a fun bus ride today through the city of Auckland just to see what it's all about. And to go to the Victoria Park Market which is basically deserted on Thursday mornings. The city's interesting there are parts that feel like a village bits that have the big city atmosphere giant shopping streets big green parks. The people are a mixed bag too lots of pakehas but also Maor http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-344552.html 03 November Started the journey to Auckland by flying to Miami. It was warm and sticky and the folks at reception at Days Inn were less than friendly and less than helpful. And shockingly my trashy Days Inn near the airport IS A POLLING PLACE.04 November Was surprised to see thirty people hanging around the hotel at 600 a.m. when I got up to catch the airport shuttle. Apparently itrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-344299.html This one's a long one so pace yourselves 28 OCTOBER Pt 2 After writing about my amazing cathedral adventure I moved from my 8night hostal to a fancy hotel included in my Galapagos tour. So fancy that they have a doorman and bellhops and 8 breakfast. I donrsquot know what to do when someone carries around my bags for me. Do I tip How much What do I say I gave the bellhop 50 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-341000.html Today Im on my own the Norwegians headed to the Galapagos and Sarah left me for Buenos Aires. Slept in and then got up and packed everything to switch hostals. Then I decided to spend some time seeing the town. First I went to the Plaza Grande in the Old Town and wandered around looking at old buildings. I got frustrated though when the buildings I really wanted to go in were closed. Or http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-339383.html 27 October I spent the day with three Norwegians running around the Mariscal the New Town of Quito. Wersquore all leaving for the Galapagos this week and had odds and ends to pick up waterproof disposable cameras toothpaste contact lens solution etc. And we had to make a big trip to the post office for Ragnhild to mail a package home. That may have been the most interesting part of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-339151.html